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Mario Kart: Infinity Remix
Mario Kart: Infinity Remix is a racing game developed by Crash Co. and published by Nintendo, released for the Nintendo Switch. It is the ninth main installment of the Mario Kart series, and the second to be released for the Nintendo Switch, following Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, where it borrows a lot of assets from. Unlike previous installments, Infinity Remix doesn't introduce elements that affect the layout of courses, although gliding, underwater, and anti-gravity sections do return. Instead, the game focuses on introducing new modes that flip the Mario Kart formula on its head, labeled as Remix Modes, making for new and engaging experiences for veterans of the series. Additionally, Battle Mode returns from Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, as does Mission Mode from Mario Kart DS. Gameplay The gameplay maintains the traditional elements of previous Mario Kart games, specifically from Mario Kart Wii and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Players pick characters and vehicles of varying stats, strengths, and weaknesses, and race against each other in obstacle course-like race tracks to finish first of 15 racers. During the race, players can pick up Item Boxes to either help themselves or hinder other racers. Infinity Remix brings back several elements from previous games. Notably, the gliding, underwater, and anti-gravity sections introduced in Mario Kart 7 and Mario Kart 8 return, functioning identically to their previous appearances. Coins can be collected along the track to increase one's overall top speed, and like Super Mario Kart and Mario Kart: Super Circuit, there is no cap to the total of Coins that can be collected. Kart customization, introduced in Mario Kart 7, also returns, with players being able to customize bodies, tires, and gliders to make their own vehicle. Kart, Bike, Sport Bike, and ATV bodies return from Mario Kart 8, and two new body types are introduced; Team bodies that allow players to use two characters in a similar manner to Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Monster Truck bodies that are significantly larger, and Unipod bodies that drive on one wheel. Lastly, auto-accelerate and smart-steering return from Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and a new feature can also be toggled on and off; a reticle that helps with aiming items like Green Shells and Bob-ombs. Point distribution is handled similarly to Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, in that every racer will get at least a point when they finish a race. Game Modes Remix Modes While Infinity Remix doesn't introduce any mechanics that change how the game functions, several new modes have been introduced that turn the standard Mario Kart formula on its head, called Remix Modes. Most of these modes can be toggled on and off, and are to provide fun and new experiences for players. Grand Prix Grand Prix in Infinity Remix works similar to previous installments, particularly Mario Kart 8. Players can select from 50cc, 100cc, 150cc, and 200cc engine classes, all of which are available by default. Players choose a cup, which takes them through four consecutive races in a set order. The points players earned for each race are tallied up, and depending on their placement, they can receive a trophy at the end. Rankings are similar to Mario Kart 8, where they are judged purely by the player's position in each race. All 1st place finishes will give the player a three-star rank, a 2nd place finish will give the player a two-star rank, two 2nd place finishes or one 3rd place finish will give the player a one-star rank, and so on. Also like Mario Kart 8, up to four players can play at once. Time Trials Time Trials lets the player complete a course with the fastest time possible. They are provided with Triple Mushrooms at the start of every attempt, allowing them to take shortcuts and save time. Players can also race ghosts, weather it be Staff Ghosts or ghosts created by players around the world. Times can be set and ghosts can be created on either the 150cc or 200cc engine classes; there are Staff Ghosts on every course for both. A new feature to Time Trials allows players to race against up to five different ghosts at once. VS VS mode can be played locally with up to four players. Compared to previous games, Infinity Remix allows the most customization of any game thus far. Similar to the Super Smash Bros. series, individual items can be turned on and off. Players can additionally race individually or in teams, choose what courses appear, play them randomly, or play them in order, and set how many CPU characters there are. Characters Starting Characters Unlockable Characters Alternate Costumes Unlock Criteria Like Mario Kart 8, all characters are unlocked randomly by getting gold trophies in Grand Prix in any cup and engine class. However, characters cannot be unlocked if a cup already has a gold trophy. Unlike Mario Kart 8 however, characters that are not unlocked cannot appear as CPU drivers. Alternate Costumes for characters are unlocked by getting a gold trophy in Grand Prix on any cup and engine class as their respective character. In the case of characters with multiple alternate costumes like Yoshi, all of their alternate costumes are unlocked at once. Stats Although karts can be customized, the character selected has base stats that the vehicle parts' stats act off of. There are six categories that characters can perform in: *'Speed': The top speed of the character. *'Acceleration': The rate of speed increase while holding the accelerate button. *'Weight': The weight of the character. Characters with higher weight knock away characters with lower weight. *'Handling': The turning and drifting ability of the character. Characters with higher drift will take turns sharper. *'Traction': The top speed of the character when in off-road. *'Mini-Turbo': The amount of speed gained from a Mini-Turbo. Vehicle Parts As in Mario Kart 7 and Mario Kart 8, players can customize their own vehicle using different bodies, tires, and gliders. Some parts can change colors for all characters or a specific group of characters. A list of these colorations can be found here. Each part will either add or subtract stats from a character's base stats. The lowest a stat can go is 0.1; should a character and kart combination bring a stat below that number, it will still remain at 0.1. While in previous games, vehicle parts were unlocked randomly by collecting Coins, parts can now be bought at Toadsworth's shop. Only some of the vehicles are available for purchase at the start of the game, though more will become available the more the game is played. In particular, the Gold Standard Kart, Gold Tires, and Gold Glider will always be the last parts to be available in stock; every other part is randomized in terms of availability. Parts listed in italics are available from the start of the game and do not need to be purchased. Bodies There are seven types of bodies; Kart, Bike, Sport Bike, ATV, Monster Truck, Unipod, and Double. Tires Gliders Items Every item, with the exception of the Crazy 8, from Mario Kart 8 Deluxe returns, along with several more items that were either featured in previous games, including the Mario Kart Arcade GP installments, and new items altogether. Items can be earned by driving through Item Boxes like in previous games, granting them a random item depending on their placement in the race. Weaker items such as Bananas and Green Shells are given to players in the higher positions, while powerful items such as Stars, Spiny Shells, and Bullet Bills are given to players in the lower positions. Returning Items New Items Courses The game has 80 courses total, split among 20 cups, with four courses in each. The Mushroom, Flower, Turnip, Egg, Feather, Cherry, Acorn, Shine, Star, and Special Cups consist of brand-new courses while the Shell, Banana, Leaf, Coin, Bell, Boomerang, Horn, Heart, Lightning, and Moon Cups consist of returning courses from previous games, all remastered to fit the additions of gliding, underwater, and anti-gravity sections. Of particular note, the retro courses don't focus on bringing back tracks that have not been reintroduced, and instead focuses on bringing back the best and most interesting courses throughout the series, regardless if they have returned previously or not. Of the 40 retro courses, there are five from each game. Nitro Courses Retro Courses Obstacles Trivia *''Infinity Remix'' was originally created to be an answer to several Mario Kart games that could be considered unoriginal or cookie-cutter, as well as to how it would be difficult to make a Mario Kart game interesting and unique. *Baby Rosalina's hair was changed from cream to red, referencing Rosalina's hair color in the illustrations of her storybook in Super Mario Galaxy. This change was made to address complaints about Baby Rosalina going against the series canon regarding Rosalina's backstory. *''Infinity Remix'' marks the first playable appearance of several characters, particularly ones hailing from spin-off titles such as Captain Syrup, Queen Merelda, Croco, Luvbi, and Jonathan Jones. *Pokey was included as a playable character to reference the flash game Mario Racing Tournament, which included it as a character. *The course logos are similar to those from Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, making it the first installment since then to include logos for every course. *''Infinity Remix'' is the first game to bring back courses that were already reintroduced as retro courses in a previous game. **However, this mainly only applies to a few select games, being Mario Kart 64, Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Mario Kart DS, and Mario Kart Wii. In an interview with the director of Crash Co., this decision was made because "all the worthwhile tracks in aforementioned games were brought back already" and "to give some of the best courses of the series new life". Category:Mario (series) Category:Mario Games Category:Mario Kart (series) Category:Mario Kart Games Category:Racing Games Category:Kart Racing Games Category:Crash Co. Category:Nintendo Switch Games Category:Fan Games Category:Games Category:Nintendo Switch Category:Nintendo Games